May 5, 2026
VPN? Very Possibly Nope
It's official: Utah is the U.S. state closest to banning VPNs
Utah’s new internet rule has commenters yelling “free speech,” “good luck,” and “just leave”
TLDR: Utah’s new law could pressure websites to check everyone’s age or crack down on VPN use, even though VPNs themselves aren’t banned. Commenters are furious and split between calling it unconstitutional, laughing at how impossible it is to enforce, and demanding companies fight back by blocking Utah users entirely.
Utah is about to become the state everyone side-eyes online. Starting May 6, sites covered by the state’s age-check law can’t tell people how to use a virtual private network, or VPN, to get around those rules. They can also get in trouble if someone in Utah slips past the age gate by making it look like they’re browsing from somewhere else. In plain English: websites may feel pushed to check everyone’s age or try to block VPN users entirely — and commenters are calling that a privacy nightmare with a side of “how on earth would this even work?”
That confusion was a huge theme in the community reaction. One commenter basically threw up their hands and asked where Utah’s power even begins or ends: is it about websites hosted there, servers there, or just anyone the state can reach? The mood was very the internet is global, good luck policing it. Others went straight for the constitutional fireworks, saying this looks ripe for a Supreme Court showdown over free speech and basic rights. And yes, the comments got deliciously conspiracy-adjacent too, with one person pointing out the National Security Agency’s big Utah data center like they were dropping the season finale twist.
Then came the spicy hot takes: one camp said companies should simply block Utah altogether and let public outrage do the rest. Another shrugged and said this is the American system working as designed — don’t like the rules, move states. Even the smaller anecdote about a random site asking for a birth date turned into a mini rebellion, with users swearing they’d rather leave than hand over more personal info. The vibe? Part legal panic, part mockery, part “this is how the internet gets worse for everyone.”
Key Points
- •Utah’s Senate Bill 73 takes effect on May 6 and applies to websites already subject to the state’s age-verification law.
- •Covered websites will be barred from explaining how to use a VPN to bypass age restrictions.
- •Websites may be held liable for failing to verify users physically located in Utah, even when those users appear online as if they are in another state.
- •The article says websites would likely respond either by requiring age verification from all users or by attempting to block VPN traffic.
- •The article notes that blocking VPN use is technically difficult and says a broader VPN-ban proposal was previously defeated in Wisconsin.